Passage

Romans 10

• Doctrine

  Evangelism

  Direct evangelism toward Muslim-background individuals is a culturally and sometimes legally sensitive activity in parts of the Swahili-speaking region (notably Zanzibar and the Kenyan and Tanzanian coast); use language of proclamation and relational witness rather than confrontational campaign language.

  ROM.10.14-15

• Doctrine

  Faith

  imani is shared Islamic vocabulary for religious belief generally; readers may hear it as confessional identity or intellectual assent rather than Romans' sense of personal, saving trust in Christ specifically.

  ROM.10.9-10, ROM.10.17

• Glossary Term

  Faith

  imani is the standard, well-established term, shared as Islamic vocabulary for religious belief generally (as in the Five Pillars' 'iman').

  ROM.10.9-10, ROM.10.17

• Doctrine

  Fulfillment of Prophecy

  Linear historical fulfillment (OT to NT) must be distinguished from a Quranic-style prophetology in which each new prophet supersedes the last with a new revealed book, rather than a unified, progressively unfolding single covenant history.

  ROM.10.11

• Glossary Term

  Gentiles

  Mataifa ('the nations') is the standard Union Version rendering, correctly conveying 'non-Jewish peoples' without the pejorative charge wapagani (pagans/heathens) would carry.

  ROM.10.12

• Doctrine

  Gospel

  Islamic theology holds that Allah gave Isa a scripture called al-Injil, later lost or corrupted (the tahrif doctrine); Muslim-background or coastal readers may hear 'Injili' as referring to a superseded, corrupted text rather than the trustworthy canonical Gospel unless this is addressed directly.

  ROM.10.15-16

• Glossary Term

  Gospel

  Injili is the established Union Version term (from Arabic/Greek euangelion via Injil).

  ROM.10.15-16

• Glossary Term

  Intercession

  maombezi (from -omba, 'to ask/pray') is the correct general term for prayer on behalf of others (Romans 8:26-27).

  ROM.10.1

• Glossary Term

  Israel

  Standard proper name; note the modern nation-state of Israel shares the identical Swahili name, and East African public opinion on the contemporary state varies, so context should clarify when the biblical people/covenant referent, not the contemporary state, is meant.

  ROM.10.12

• Glossary Term

  Jesus

  Yesu is the standard Union Version form used across all Swahili Christian traditions.

  ROM.10.9, ROM.10.12

• Glossary Term

  Justification

  Compound phrase ('to be counted/reckoned as righteous') is the established Union Version rendering and required in full; no single Swahili word captures the forensic, declarative sense.

  ROM.10.1, ROM.10.10

• Glossary Term

  Law

  sheria is the standard Union Version term for the Mosaic Law/Torah and the ordinary word for civil law.

  ROM.10.11

• Glossary Term

  Lord

  Bwana is the established Union Version term.

  ROM.10.9, ROM.10.12

• Doctrine

  Lordship of Christ

  Romans 10:9's confession 'Yesu ni Bwana' is a direct, exclusive claim of divine lordship; must be kept distinct from Islamic-register terms for Lord/Master (e.g.

  ROM.10.9, ROM.10.12

• Doctrine

  Prayer and Intercession

  Christ's and the Spirit's intercession in Romans 8 must be kept entirely distinct from traditional practices of petitioning ancestral spirits (mizimu) for intervention in the living community's affairs, a real and active practice across much of inland Swahili-speaking East Africa.

  ROM.10.1

• Glossary Term

  Prophecy

  unabii is God-inspired declaration; must be distinguished from uaguzi (divination/fortune-telling), a live traditional practice performed by waganga (traditional healers/diviners) across much of the Swahili-speaking region.

  ROM.10.11

• Glossary Term

  Righteousness

  haki is the established term but is also the everyday word for 'justice' and 'a right' (haki za binadamu, 'human rights'), a broader civic sense than Romans' theological sense of right standing before God received by faith.

  ROM.10.1, ROM.10.10

• Doctrine

  Salvation

  CRITICAL: Islamic soteriology has no atonement/substitutionary framework, understanding entry to paradise as Allah's mercy weighed against deeds; readers with Islamic exposure may default to a merit-weighing model unless Romans' basis for salvation in Christ's finished work (10:9-10) is stated explicitly.

  ROM.10.1, ROM.10.10

• Glossary Term

  Salvation

  CRITICAL: wokovu is the correct and only viable Union Version term.

  ROM.10.1, ROM.10.10

• Doctrine

  Unity of Jews and Gentiles

  Requires careful OT grounding for readers, whether of Muslim or traditional-religious background, who may have little independent narrative knowledge of Israel's covenant history beyond what either the Quran or the New Testament itself supplies.

  ROM.10.12

• Doctrine

  Universal Scope of the Gospel

  No caste barrier exists in this cultural context as in South Asia, but real ethnic and religious (Muslim-coastal vs.

  ROM.10.12-13